Katamari Damacy Creator Has A Glitch To Itch

The creator quirky classic Katamari Damacy, Keita Takahashi, has ended his year-long absence from the development scene, teaming up with Canadian-based developers Tiny Speck to work on their new massively multiplayer browser game, Glitch. He's already left his offices in Japan, charted a plane and is probably touching down in Vancouver right about... now!

Glitch is set in the minds of 11 giants, and the player is tasked with helping the world to "grow and shape, building building and developing, learning new skills, collaborating or competing with everyone else in one persistent world." It sounds appropriately weird and wacky for Takahashi, and the quality - of both the game and the team at Tiny Speck - must have been impressive enough, too, for him to join up.

"We know how hard it is to defy convention and make something entirely new," explain the pretty chuffed team at Tiny Speck. They revealed their "tremendous respect" for Takahashi's work, and how disappointed they were with his premature retirement from the industry. But a chance meeting with Takahashi, who got his hands on Glitch, ultimately worked in their favor.

"A few months ago we were lucky enough to start talking to him," they reveal excitedly. "We played some Glitch together, batted ideas back and forth and found that we shared the same values - deep beliefs in curiosity, humour, absurdity, and above all a belief in the positive power of play." Takahashi's exact role is unclear - I imagine he'll be producing rather than directing; the game is pretty far along already.

We're all very happy here at Dealspwn that Takahashi is back, and wish he and the team at Tiny Speck the best of luck with Glitch. You can count on us to bring you more on this as and when it develops. [Tiny Speck]